GeForce RTX 3070 vs Radeon R9 290

Place in the ranking	258	39
Place by popularity	not in top-100	44
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	7.92	60.67
Architecture	GCN 2.0 (2013−2017)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Hawaii	Ampere GA104
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	5 November 2013 (10 years ago)	16 September 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3070 has 666% better value for money than R9 290.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	2560	5888
Core clock speed	947 MHz	1500 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1725 MHz
Number of transistors	6,200 million	17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	220 Watt
Texture fill rate	151.5	317.4
Floating-point processing power	4.849 gflops	20.31 gflops
ROPs	64	96
TMUs	160	184

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	275 mm	242 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x 12-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	512 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	5000 MHz	14000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	320.0 GB/s	448.0 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 (12_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.3	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2
CUDA	-	8.5

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

R9 290 20.98

RTX 3070 58.01
+177%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

R9 290 8093

RTX 3070 22372
+176%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

R9 290 11860

RTX 3070 31020
+162%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD	50−55 −200%	150 +200%
1440p	35−40 −180%	98 +180%
4K	21−24 −195%	62 +195%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

147

+0%

147

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	125 +0%	125 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	100 +0%	100 +0%
Battlefield 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	139 +0%	139 +0%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	109 +0%	109 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Metro Exodus	144 +0%	144 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	118 +0%	118 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	230−240 +0%	230−240 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	174 +0%	174 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	87 +0%	87 +0%
Battlefield 5	180−190 +0%	180−190 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	126 +0%	126 +0%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	116 +0%	116 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Metro Exodus	144 +0%	144 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	255 +0%	255 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	178 +0%	178 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	81 +0%	81 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	78 +0%	78 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	102 +0%	102 +0%
Far Cry 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	220−230 +0%	220−230 +0%
Hitman 3	111 +0%	111 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	181 +0%	181 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	223 +0%	223 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	121 +0%	121 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85 +0%	85 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

116

+0%

116

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	68 +0%	68 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	65 +0%	65 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	62 +0%	62 +0%
Far Cry 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%
Hitman 3	96 +0%	96 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	146 +0%	146 +0%
Metro Exodus	101 +0%	101 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	166 +0%	166 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	175 +0%	175 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

114

+0%

114

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +0%	65−70 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 +0%	55−60 +0%
Hitman 3	52 +0%	52 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Metro Exodus	107 +0%	107 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	90 +0%	90 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	48 +0%	48 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	43 +0%	43 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	30 +0%	30 +0%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	97 +0%	97 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	38 +0%	38 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

This is how R9 290 and RTX 3070 compete in popular games:

RTX 3070 is 200% faster in 1080p
RTX 3070 is 180% faster in 1440p
RTX 3070 is 195% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.98	58.01
Recency	5 November 2013	16 September 2020
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	275 Watt	220 Watt

RTX 3070 has a 176.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 25% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3070 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 290 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.